Sunday, July 15, 2012

Week 28, Wild

The book of the week for week 28 is titled Wild. It's a Platform Panel book structure which was taught by fellow book artist Ann Clark at our Triangle Book Arts Guild a month or so ago.

Two wild kittens on the cover of Wild

The Triangle Book Arts Guild is a very low profile and eclectic group of book makers, printers and book artists who meet every third Monday of the month to share information, ideas, and the love of book arts. For the May meeting we learned about printing using an old retrofitted pull-type "knuckle-buster" credit card machine. Sixteen of us carved a 2 x 3-inch linoleum plate each, and printed 16 prints of our carved plate to share. Then we cut the accordion-folded card stock strip to create the swivel panel accordion book on which to paste the prints.

Swivel Panels of Prints

It took awhile, but I finally got all the pieces put together, the covers glued on, and the book finished this week. I spread it out in the backyard and noticed many of the prints had the theme of something wild.. I put my own print on the front cover as the title piece and also on the last panel of the book. I named the book Wild because my carved panels are pictures of my two kittens, Charlemagne and Louis, and the carved word "WILD."

Prints of flowers, leaves, a dog, trees and kittens... make up the book Wild

My husband calls the kittens "monsters" but they're really pretty cute. Like most kittens, they're full of energy; they jump and climb and play a lot. I caught Charlie climbing the brick wall in our laundry room last week.. He was as high as my shoulder.. hanging off a vertical brick wall. Louie is fascinated with a certain paper ball and chases it all over the house growling as as he carries it in his mouth. He sounds really intense when he has his paper ball, but most of the time Louie is very sweet and gentle.

Wild Louie Lamour

He loves to be petted and purrs like a little motor boat. He's the big brother... at 4 months old.

Wild Charlie

Charlemagne comes when you call him Charlie. He's two weeks younger than Louie and half his size. He has very funny looking fur and tufts that grow out of his rather large ears. He loves to wrestle with Louie and he copies everything Louie does. He has a squeaky little meow that's more like a mew.

Kittens turn on and off rather quickly. Like the swivel panels of the book, the kittens can be full of wild energy one minute and fast asleep the next.

Louie asleep on the rug

Charlie.. trying to stay awake....

That's how it is in nature... a cycle of ups and downs.. and like wild kittens, everything has it's time.

About Me

I have found that using the book form as art is like a deep well for expression, emotion, story telling, imagination, and creativity. I have my own etching press and letterpress and love adding print and design to the palate of poetry and prose. However, my definition of what is a book is much broader than paper and ink and is somehow held not in materials but in the content of the story told.